Even if your opponent has one out card on the river that will happen over 2% of the time. If you play enough hands, you will eventually lose to a one outer. Smile, say "Nice hand!" and move on. You can control your mental game. You got your money in as a good as you could. You can still lose. It is why some people play the game, they want the "big fish" story to tell. Let them have those, you meanwhile use your mathematical advantage to win much more often and smile when they tell their big fish story.
Thoroughly enjoyed this post. Four out of the six I personally have dealt with, two I had not considered. I couldn’t agree more with needing to control your actions and reactions. Excellent advice not only in Poker but life also.
I struggle with the term GTO being used synonymously with (Nash) equilibrium. Game Theory Optimal is playing optimal vs your opponents strategy. If your opponent always throws rock, and you throw 33% of each, this is not Optimal. Optimal strategy would be to always throw paper.
The "Projection" advice is timely for me...I think other players are overbluffing and see that I actually overbluff and combined with trust issues, I believe the villains are always lying! Awareness of this issue has improved my game a lot...
I resonate with this a lot. Great comment. I project my internalized stresses into the game sometimes. I am hyper empathic/sympathetic, but it's a function of being fucked over by a warped family system, not some angelic thing. I developed hyper vigilance to compensate.... TOO much vigilance, see enemies/create them in my mind when none exist. When I create them on the poker table I get vengeful/irrational. Biggest hole in my game right now. Funny how if you want to get better at poker/move up, you've often got to work on yourself honestly on deeper levels.
Projecting is a super easy mistake to make. Like if I'm plugging a hand into flopzilla, and I working through the action, I say "theyd probably fold these holdings to this bet" but I know from the showdown that they didnt fold that combo. It's been eye opening realizing how often my opponents play extremely different ranges and strategies than I would.
I've had to learn to not do this. I've been beat at showdown a few times where I'm like I wouldn't have played that in a million years. One example I find is that people will play K anything suited or off from any position. I don't, I fold out so many Ax and Kx preflop depending on my position.
@@moneymike226 The best part is that you'll dominate these hands often with better Ax and Kx, just be wary of 2 pair on Klow and Alow boards and don't go off the rails.
This man is excellent. Most important factors in my game are 1. GAME SELECTION, if I don’t have very bad players at the table, I quit and go to another table 2. POSITION I rarely play hands in early position 3. HAND SELECTION 4. AGRESSIVENESS that’s it folks. But I play once a week sometimes twice and only on the weekends and at night. Games are better and I’m not looking to make a living. Very successful.
The control advice is huge for me. I am a bit of a control freak and tend to get emotional on long bad runs. I start to ask how is that fair, and if the universe is against me. Realizing that the only thing I can actually control IS my emotions sets off a big light bulb for me. I really appreciate that.
The thing about projecting is spot on. I have found myself very often thinking to myself "he (or a she, ofcourse) probably doesn't have that hand" and so I make up my mind that their range according to their preflop play is similar to mine. However, I have run into players calling my 3bets and even 3betting with things like 79s or 67s. And I'm talking 8x BB 3bets. Only to be shocked when they cbet the flop in the lower to medium range and me raising their cbet thinking their cbet is a bluff because the flop is 'not their range'. Well, lets just say I have lost quite a bit of money thinking the players range is not on the flop. So, with that in mind...I have a question. - Instead of projecting, which is obviously not good, what should you do? When you are playing online poker and especially while multi-tabling, mental capacity is limited to keep track of everyone, and even the hands that go to showdown are few. So how do you actually tell someone's range? If that is the right question to ask, ofcourse. Any insight would be helpful, I'm super passionate about this, and I've been playing poker for about 2-3 months now. Thanks
Excellent video, thank you! I identify with so much of what you covered and I believe this is the right course for me. I played poker many years ago while working abroad and I did well. Now, semi-retired I'm playing again and it's a different animal. I struggle just to be a break even player. I'm surviving because I watch every hand even when I'm not in it since most people bluff, defend and value they pretty much fall into patterns especially when bluffing. That made me some money back then but this is a different game now, since I'll be playing mostly online. Again, thank you so much for your content.
Thanks for the lessons, its been pretty helpful. I have never played for enough money to be fully tilted to where I am breaking stuff 😆 I play mostly live cash games with friends for $100 buy-ins. These lessons have been helpful, however most of my crew make it really hard to nail their range or know what they got by how they bet. Especially after several beers. They get a little maniacle. They play a small pair the same as a full house so who knows what they got.
Go play your $100 on a 1/2 table somewhere and start to grind. Those kind of "friendly" games will never help you advance. If you do play them, be the old guy with coffee and you'll eventually fuck them up.
@@herokillerinc i have been trying to get a buddy to go play some sit n go with me at the Casino. I played online during the pandemic a little bit to decent sucess, but it was penny games just to kill time. Lol
@@e.t926 The way you will play certain part of your hands depending of your stack size. Ex: effective stack 30bbs. You open 2x (2bbs) JJ from MP > BTN 3 bets you 3x (6bbs) > you 4 bet shove. Effec. stack 100bbs you open 2.5x or 3x JJ from MP > BTN 3 bets you 3.5x (7/8/9bbs) depend the size... > you 4 bet to 2.4x/2.7x (in practice > 2.5bbs open > 8bbs 3bet > 20/21/22bbs 4 bet) This is a specific situation.. hope you understand ;) gl hf
Phil Gordon's Little Green Book was hardly crap. It may be a bit dated at this point and missing the most up to date information, but much of the info is still valid, its language is plain, it's an enjoyable read, and I'd recommend it to anyone just getting started in the game.
@@ThePokerBank That's book 5 of the OG reading order of operations for new players. 1) Phil Gordons 2) Harrington 3)psychology of poker 4)hold em odds book 5)theory and practice. Then maybe pick up a decent book on live reads and managing your own nature as well as your bankroll and you're then all caught up to the year of our lord 2010 in poker knowledge.
The lack of note taking by players at the table is amazing to me. Seeing a player take notes on his or her phone after a hand seems more the exception than the rule especially in lower level games. I think it is only done by the higher level players in general and only a hand few of lower level players. I think this is one very easily skill that a new player starting can do that can set him or herself apart from other players. I mostly take notes on my phone but to change it up I bought a note pad to take notes by hand. It became the talk of the table (and not in a good way). Players acted like I was an alien from another planet. Taking notes and using them to review spots, find my strengths and weaknesses, areas of study etc, has helped me tremendously. When a fellow player asks me why I take notes, I give the analogy of think of professional sports like the NFL, NHL etc. How crazy would it be if an NFL team didn't review game tape and instead "flew blind" like many poker players do. Or imagine if you took an exam in school and your teacher just gave you a grade but didn't let you look at your paper to see what did right or wrong preventing you from improving. Yet, poker players routinely sit at the table never taking one note. I sometimes wonder if the poker vloggers have inadvertently harnessed the advantage of note taking. They have to take detailed notes and then review their hand play as part of the putting together their vlogs.
I wouldn't recommend the physical notepad, mostly because it creates the exact situation you ran into =) But yeah, taking good notes on your phone and being able to review spots clearly later is 100% necessary for actually improving.
I learned a few things down the road. 1, don't gamble for money you NEED. Cus thats when emotions get the best of you. And then poker gods tend to troll you when you are desperate, give you pocket aces and you lose to a set of 3s. Lol 2, seems like I win more if I am having fun... like that same thing that happens when playing an instrument happens playing cards. The right things just happen cus I am open to it, and the wrong things don't steam me. Though I have never played a really high stakes game. Biggest buy-in I ever made was 5k. Winner took like 75k. Thats "a lot" of money... but not life changing. 5k isn't anything to a high a roller. But for me, thats a decent stack to just throw away. And 75k would pay off my house. I used to think about stats and probability and ranges and all that stuff that for me sucks the fun out. But I found playing from my heart works out best... feelings and reading the table have worked out for me. My hero is Tony G. That guy knows the rules, knows the stats, knows the probabilities and then just goes all in on a Q3 offsuit lol. And wins! He exploits other players trying to play "perfect" and it works out. He's the one that gets that set of 3s when you have pocket aces. And then convinces you your aces are gonna win and pulls you in. Cus every hands a winner and you can't win if you don't play. Thats kinda how I roll... but I am not as much of a goofball.
#1 is a big one. You even see now, many of the “old school” dudes who got their start around the same time as Splitsuit use such dated poker advice. I remember once that I check raised an overpair on J43tt against a solid reg who called button (who was the second caller). Some old school regs jumped down my throat because apparently “no strong reg is calling that raise with a Jack”. Because that’s how they played against passive opponents back in the day; you just make huge folds constantly. With zero realization that you’re setting yourself up to get obliterated by solid players when you’re folding this much. I’m not sure if it’s different now, but there was definitely a folding obsession a decade plus ago.
I have only a little acquaintance with game theory and statistics so I could be off track, but this question has been on my mind lately: Given that GTO strategies are really about the very long run (when all the cards average out), do the solvers really apply to most games? Or maybe what I am really asking is, can the exploitative strategies properly be implemented when we are (as we usually are) in the *short* run? Take the example from about the 6:50 min mark of this video, where the opponent is "overfolding" 64 vs 40% of hands. How could we know that? At 25 hands per hour, it will take four hours just to get to 100 hands. But the statistical fluctuations from average in 100 hands can be massive. Maybe this player is folding 64% of the hands we play with them, but they are nevertheless *massively underfolding compared to the GTO ranges* in that period. To illustrate anecdotally how big the swings are, note the statistic that on average you get dealt a pocket pair once every 17 hands: I've had situations where I've gotten seven pocket pairs in an hour, and others where I've had no pocket pairs for a couple of hours. Someone could calculate how statistically likely it is to go card dead, or to go on a run (at various degrees of dead/run in various different periods of time), but the point is that we are pretty much never playing average cards, and we almost never have enough evidence to really know whether someone is deviating a lot from GTO. How should we think about this? Or here's a more extreme way of putting it: Is GTO just astrology for poker players?
A mistake that I think happens with more players than youd expect is to use inconsistent logic to analyze a spot. I used to mess this up all the time, but the obvious example is thinking that you've made a bet that might get called by worse or fold out better. It doesnt come out like this when you make the play, otherwise youd spot how ludicrous it sounds, but I wish I'd known that while poker is endlessly deep, core principles are essential and straightforward. A conceptual foundation is vital, before you get into frequencies and even quite basic study and calculation.
I used to play poker 60 70 hours a week… back then the game was so different. In Cash games you could play pretty tight create that image and start exploiting. I went and played again recently and it didn’t take long to realize my game was dated… I am thinking about starting to take it seriously again
All great advice btw. 9:23 yeah. I've queued up a bunch of your videos. 2300 here so I'll probably fall asleep. Comments to be backfilled for the algorithm.😂
Hey, recently been playing for a month now in local live tournaments, the one thing I struggle with is cracking under pressure on final table & putting myself in bad situations, any suggestions?
Flopzilla question. Are the odds shown based on my 2 cards against the other 50 cards (pre-flop) or is there any consideration regarding the rest of the players on the table potentially, and probably, holding some of my outs?
Would play any ace and surprise get out kicked or any two suited cards which leads to so many problema besides getting beat by higher flushes but generally my opponent had two over a as well I was an ATM for so long and there was three of that would get dinner comped every night the other two were tight rocks that took pity on me after a couple years and showed me the light and voila what a difference could
Tendlers quote is actually a bit off. It should be something like "you cant 100% control what other people do" - you can influence them though... Manipulation is a thing.
I think cash game is where the real skill is,but you need a big bankroll.Tournies a lot more luck but if you run well you can win big.I watch top players and they are all in a lot.
When it comes to the math, you’re best off taking the time to simply excel your way to the results. Two ways to learn…do the simple process is 101 if you want to be better than the next player
@@ThePokerBank Who is the target audience? If it's for beginners you really need to talk slower ,cut down on the terminologies and talk more generally
its hard for me to understand how bottom pair vs top pair (hole cards) still wins 20% of the time. Whats even weirder is how this is basically 100% consistent for any two pairs. like i get that you can maybe hit a 4 card flush 2% of the time. but u only have 2 outs for the set, any board pairing doesn’t help you at all as the lower pair, so the only things i can think of are 4 card straights and sets / quads. Do you really have a 20% chance to hit a 2 out once with 5 cards? Same think with KK getting outpaired 20% of the time _by the flop_ just seems crazy to me that u hit a 3 outer out of 52 cards 20% of the time with 3 chances. I know it’s all right but statistics can be really unintuitive! I guess when im playing it feels like the chances of me hitting my outs are higher than 20% though 😂 so i guess deep down im an optimist
when you said players are looking to connect with the board with their whole cards . I want to know how I can play at a deeper thinking level to not be 3bet to death.
I love how to sell these vids like poker is a science or math. I suck at poker and the people I play with don’t give a F about these things. They just want to gamble and have a good time and that makes it impossible to win. Lol try beating 3-4 all in players every other hand. However, you’ve good content and it’s well thought out and delivered. So liked and subscribed.
If you want to consistently win at poker, find a game you can beat and shear those sheep as much as you can. If you play against really gamble-y people then you have to tighten up or have a bankroll large enough to handle the swings. If you think No Limit Hold Em is bad due to the swings, try Pot Limit Omaha. Stick with James, he won't steer you wrong, and as you learn remember this "If you are an excellent player, people are going to draw out on you a lot more than you outdraw on them, because they have a worse hand a lot more than you do. The ONLY way to outdraw someone is to get all your money in with a bad hand"- adapted quote from Bobby Baldwin
I appreciate the like & sub, thank you! That said, there is still math against those types of players and in those types of spots - the swings can just get a bit massive =)
James I just became a professional player recently I have a point A-Z strategy all written down very basic mathematics x amount of questions pre-flop X amount of questions post-flop I used to watch your videos years ago I also watch a lot of other videos one thing I notice is no one actually tells you their strategy / thought process they just tell you a little bits and pieces here and there just like your book just making money off of one little piece of poker I'm also going to make my book from A to z I'm not trying to sell people pieces here and there capitalize but never given the full strategy taking advantage of people at the tables and off the tables is what you're doing
@@ekw555 obviously you're not a professional you are you a winning player how many questions you think somebody's asking their self when they're at the table winning players you think they're going through a whole book of questions lol
Poker strategy is too complex to simplify it down to a single book. It's not a matter of "taking advantage" of anyone, but an actual biproduct of complexity and focused teaching/learning. But by all means, please prove me wrong...
@@erickhanes7517 let me get this straight - you're going to write a BOOK ? so far you've written two nearly indecipherable comments. but, I will play along. 1) in your first post you complained that existing books "just tell little bits and pieces" and that your book would be your complete A-Z strategy. so, I opined that the book would have to be large to completely explain a strategy from A-Z and not just be bits and pieces. if that is incorrect, then your strategy, despite covering EVERYTHING must be breathtakingly simple. I look forward to reading it. Assuming it is less garbled than your posts. 2) I think how poker study works is once you learn parts of it, it becomes part of your "unconscious competence" and you no longer need to "ask the question" at all. For instance when you are dealt 72o UTG+1 and UTG opens (for any amount) - are you asking any questions here? no. you know it's a fold.
Just a theory. If all these ppl trained the population who plays at level 1 to play at a level 3, but they are playing at level 5. Then they automatically made thousands of more ppl to beat. It’s almost like training ppl to be robots. Just a theory
Game theory is just that someones ideal of a theory. You either find reasons to agree and follow it or reasons to follow your own game theory which if your askin questions you have no theory. Make mistakes n try but ill give u a piece of advice game theory is fine till u play online. Online rng defy any theory and you will be on the loosing end till u understand that.
Dude, you make a video to show 90% your face and talking like a waterfall ... Please bring some visuals and examples ... It's very hard to follow what you'r saying ... at least for me.
If you can't control opponents actions then clearly bluffing is bullshit because those noobs will ultimately accept the raise and reraise it or go all in and worst case is online games help opponents more than you
@thepokerbank is flopzilla pro considered a "solver"? Or is it some other program? I'm trying to get back into poker. There wasnt all this GTO / solver stuff around when I was playing more regularly.
Thinking about joining CORE? Learn more about it and enroll today: redchippoker.com/launch-core
Such a well explained poker video. You know you’re stuff when you can so eloquently and easily explain it.
Thank you Mark!
Even if your opponent has one out card on the river that will happen over 2% of the time. If you play enough hands, you will eventually lose to a one outer. Smile, say "Nice hand!" and move on. You can control your mental game. You got your money in as a good as you could. You can still lose. It is why some people play the game, they want the "big fish" story to tell. Let them have those, you meanwhile use your mathematical advantage to win much more often and smile when they tell their big fish story.
Thoroughly enjoyed this post. Four out of the six I personally have dealt with, two I had not considered. I couldn’t agree more with needing to control your actions and reactions. Excellent advice not only in Poker but life also.
yes butt when that happens all year long ...what next ?
@@allboxing9851 mathematically impossible to continue to happen
This is Woodoo World@@erickhanes7517 Then deck finds another way make it happen ..
Outs on the river?
I struggle with the term GTO being used synonymously with (Nash) equilibrium. Game Theory Optimal is playing optimal vs your opponents strategy. If your opponent always throws rock, and you throw 33% of each, this is not Optimal. Optimal strategy would be to always throw paper.
The "Projection" advice is timely for me...I think other players are overbluffing and see that I actually overbluff and combined with trust issues, I believe the villains are always lying! Awareness of this issue has improved my game a lot...
I resonate with this a lot. Great comment. I project my internalized stresses into the game sometimes. I am hyper empathic/sympathetic, but it's a function of being fucked over by a warped family system, not some angelic thing. I developed hyper vigilance to compensate.... TOO much vigilance, see enemies/create them in my mind when none exist. When I create them on the poker table I get vengeful/irrational. Biggest hole in my game right now. Funny how if you want to get better at poker/move up, you've often got to work on yourself honestly on deeper levels.
Projecting is a super easy mistake to make. Like if I'm plugging a hand into flopzilla, and I working through the action, I say "theyd probably fold these holdings to this bet" but I know from the showdown that they didnt fold that combo. It's been eye opening realizing how often my opponents play extremely different ranges and strategies than I would.
100% agreed.
I've had to learn to not do this. I've been beat at showdown a few times where I'm like I wouldn't have played that in a million years. One example I find is that people will play K anything suited or off from any position. I don't, I fold out so many Ax and Kx preflop depending on my position.
@@moneymike226 The best part is that you'll dominate these hands often with better Ax and Kx, just be wary of 2 pair on Klow and Alow boards and don't go off the rails.
This man is excellent. Most important factors in my game are
1. GAME SELECTION, if I don’t have very bad players at the table, I quit and go to another table
2. POSITION I rarely play hands in early position
3. HAND SELECTION
4. AGRESSIVENESS
that’s it folks. But I play once a week sometimes twice and only on the weekends and at night. Games are better and I’m not looking to make a living. Very successful.
Nicely put Paul!
Yeah I did CORE during the pandemic lockdowns and it was really transformative for my game.. I was 10 NL losing reg at that time
Nice job putting in the effort Francisco, and I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed CORE!
@@ThePokerBank thanks !!!
How are you going now? Whats your winrate?
@@infosrelevantes7146 look at my page then go study
@@FranciscoLetsGo Nice. Thanks you
The control advice is huge for me. I am a bit of a control freak and tend to get emotional on long bad runs. I start to ask how is that fair, and if the universe is against me. Realizing that the only thing I can actually control IS my emotions sets off a big light bulb for me. I really appreciate that.
Gl out there… Patience!
The thing about projecting is spot on. I have found myself very often thinking to myself "he (or a she, ofcourse) probably doesn't have that hand" and so I make up my mind that their range according to their preflop play is similar to mine. However, I have run into players calling my 3bets and even 3betting with things like 79s or 67s. And I'm talking 8x BB 3bets. Only to be shocked when they cbet the flop in the lower to medium range and me raising their cbet thinking their cbet is a bluff because the flop is 'not their range'. Well, lets just say I have lost quite a bit of money thinking the players range is not on the flop. So, with that in mind...I have a question. - Instead of projecting, which is obviously not good, what should you do? When you are playing online poker and especially while multi-tabling, mental capacity is limited to keep track of everyone, and even the hands that go to showdown are few. So how do you actually tell someone's range? If that is the right question to ask, ofcourse. Any insight would be helpful, I'm super passionate about this, and I've been playing poker for about 2-3 months now.
Thanks
+1 and thumbs up for the same question i wanted to ask
Excellent video, thank you! I identify with so much of what you covered and I believe this is the right course for me. I played poker many years ago while working abroad and I did well. Now, semi-retired I'm playing again and it's a different animal. I struggle just to be a break even player. I'm surviving because I watch every hand even when I'm not in it since most people bluff, defend and value they pretty much fall into patterns especially when bluffing. That made me some money back then but this is a different game now, since I'll be playing mostly online. Again, thank you so much for your content.
Thanks for the lessons, its been pretty helpful.
I have never played for enough money to be fully tilted to where I am breaking stuff 😆 I play mostly live cash games with friends for $100 buy-ins.
These lessons have been helpful, however most of my crew make it really hard to nail their range or know what they got by how they bet. Especially after several beers. They get a little maniacle. They play a small pair the same as a full house so who knows what they got.
Go play your $100 on a 1/2 table somewhere and start to grind. Those kind of "friendly" games will never help you advance. If you do play them, be the old guy with coffee and you'll eventually fuck them up.
@@herokillerinc i have been trying to get a buddy to go play some sit n go with me at the Casino. I played online during the pandemic a little bit to decent sucess, but it was penny games just to kill time. Lol
When I first started, I wish I paid attention to stack depths and understood the importance of them, especially in tournaments.
Nice one
Im new to this game... How stack depth affects your game?
@@e.t926 The way you will play certain part of your hands depending of your stack size. Ex: effective stack 30bbs. You open 2x (2bbs) JJ from MP > BTN 3 bets you 3x (6bbs) > you 4 bet shove.
Effec. stack 100bbs you open 2.5x or 3x JJ from MP > BTN 3 bets you 3.5x (7/8/9bbs) depend the size... > you 4 bet to 2.4x/2.7x (in practice > 2.5bbs open > 8bbs 3bet > 20/21/22bbs 4 bet)
This is a specific situation.. hope you understand ;) gl hf
that's not really a beginner concept
New to poker, Thank you so much for your videos and help, also gonna be buying your poker workbook!
Phil Gordon's Little Green Book was hardly crap. It may be a bit dated at this point and missing the most up to date information, but much of the info is still valid, its language is plain, it's an enjoyable read, and I'd recommend it to anyone just getting started in the game.
Give them NLTAP instead and you'll change their world =)
@@ThePokerBank Please, What is NLTAP??
@@akhitwr No Limit Theory And Practice (by Sklansky & Miller)
@@ThePokerBank Thank you
@@ThePokerBank That's book 5 of the OG reading order of operations for new players. 1) Phil Gordons 2) Harrington 3)psychology of poker 4)hold em odds book 5)theory and practice. Then maybe pick up a decent book on live reads and managing your own nature as well as your bankroll and you're then all caught up to the year of our lord 2010 in poker knowledge.
i just ordered your Poker Math & Workbook off Amazon (i like paper books). thx, SS !!
tip 5 is huge. I've seen plenty of poker verbal fights start based off of this.
Yes indeed
Awesome vid & I like the sound of that workbook.
The lack of note taking by players at the table is amazing to me. Seeing a player take notes on his or her phone after a hand seems more the exception than the rule especially in lower level games. I think it is only done by the higher level players in general and only a hand few of lower level players. I think this is one very easily skill that a new player starting can do that can set him or herself apart from other players. I mostly take notes on my phone but to change it up I bought a note pad to take notes by hand. It became the talk of the table (and not in a good way). Players acted like I was an alien from another planet. Taking notes and using them to review spots, find my strengths and weaknesses, areas of study etc, has helped me tremendously. When a fellow player asks me why I take notes, I give the analogy of think of professional sports like the NFL, NHL etc. How crazy would it be if an NFL team didn't review game tape and instead "flew blind" like many poker players do. Or imagine if you took an exam in school and your teacher just gave you a grade but didn't let you look at your paper to see what did right or wrong preventing you from improving. Yet, poker players routinely sit at the table never taking one note. I sometimes wonder if the poker vloggers have inadvertently harnessed the advantage of note taking. They have to take detailed notes and then review their hand play as part of the putting together their vlogs.
I wouldn't recommend the physical notepad, mostly because it creates the exact situation you ran into =) But yeah, taking good notes on your phone and being able to review spots clearly later is 100% necessary for actually improving.
I learned a few things down the road.
1, don't gamble for money you NEED. Cus thats when emotions get the best of you. And then poker gods tend to troll you when you are desperate, give you pocket aces and you lose to a set of 3s. Lol
2, seems like I win more if I am having fun... like that same thing that happens when playing an instrument happens playing cards. The right things just happen cus I am open to it, and the wrong things don't steam me.
Though I have never played a really high stakes game. Biggest buy-in I ever made was 5k. Winner took like 75k. Thats "a lot" of money... but not life changing. 5k isn't anything to a high a roller. But for me, thats a decent stack to just throw away. And 75k would pay off my house.
I used to think about stats and probability and ranges and all that stuff that for me sucks the fun out. But I found playing from my heart works out best... feelings and reading the table have worked out for me.
My hero is Tony G. That guy knows the rules, knows the stats, knows the probabilities and then just goes all in on a Q3 offsuit lol. And wins! He exploits other players trying to play "perfect" and it works out. He's the one that gets that set of 3s when you have pocket aces. And then convinces you your aces are gonna win and pulls you in.
Cus every hands a winner and you can't win if you don't play.
Thats kinda how I roll... but I am not as much of a goofball.
I like 1 & 2!
#1 is a big one. You even see now, many of the “old school” dudes who got their start around the same time as Splitsuit use such dated poker advice. I remember once that I check raised an overpair on J43tt against a solid reg who called button (who was the second caller). Some old school regs jumped down my throat because apparently “no strong reg is calling that raise with a Jack”. Because that’s how they played against passive opponents back in the day; you just make huge folds constantly. With zero realization that you’re setting yourself up to get obliterated by solid players when you’re folding this much.
I’m not sure if it’s different now, but there was definitely a folding obsession a decade plus ago.
This is great stuff. I appreciate your teaching.
You don’t need to win every hand. When you “know” you are behind, no need to try to force it. Pick your spots.
Well said Steven!
I have only a little acquaintance with game theory and statistics so I could be off track, but this question has been on my mind lately: Given that GTO strategies are really about the very long run (when all the cards average out), do the solvers really apply to most games? Or maybe what I am really asking is, can the exploitative strategies properly be implemented when we are (as we usually are) in the *short* run? Take the example from about the 6:50 min mark of this video, where the opponent is "overfolding" 64 vs 40% of hands. How could we know that? At 25 hands per hour, it will take four hours just to get to 100 hands. But the statistical fluctuations from average in 100 hands can be massive. Maybe this player is folding 64% of the hands we play with them, but they are nevertheless *massively underfolding compared to the GTO ranges* in that period. To illustrate anecdotally how big the swings are, note the statistic that on average you get dealt a pocket pair once every 17 hands: I've had situations where I've gotten seven pocket pairs in an hour, and others where I've had no pocket pairs for a couple of hours. Someone could calculate how statistically likely it is to go card dead, or to go on a run (at various degrees of dead/run in various different periods of time), but the point is that we are pretty much never playing average cards, and we almost never have enough evidence to really know whether someone is deviating a lot from GTO. How should we think about this?
Or here's a more extreme way of putting it: Is GTO just astrology for poker players?
I might make a video response to this since you certainly aren't alone in this type of question =)
A mistake that I think happens with more players than youd expect is to use inconsistent logic to analyze a spot. I used to mess this up all the time, but the obvious example is thinking that you've made a bet that might get called by worse or fold out better. It doesnt come out like this when you make the play, otherwise youd spot how ludicrous it sounds, but I wish I'd known that while poker is endlessly deep, core principles are essential and straightforward. A conceptual foundation is vital, before you get into frequencies and even quite basic study and calculation.
Nicely said!
I used to play poker 60 70 hours a week… back then the game was so different. In Cash games you could play pretty tight create that image and start exploiting. I went and played again recently and it didn’t take long to realize my game was dated… I am thinking about starting to take it seriously again
Great info, Spitsuit.
I remembered reading TJ cloutie book 15 years ago lol
All great advice btw. 9:23 yeah.
I've queued up a bunch of your videos.
2300 here so I'll probably fall asleep. Comments to be backfilled for the algorithm.😂
As always, it's a great content.
I can see the keyboard and mouse going for a ride, but your face through a wall? That's some serious passion.
Luckily I didn't smash a stud, lol
@@ThePokerBank Lol Good thing or else you might've only had the brainpower to teach checkers.
Thx James fot your videos. always a pleasure and useful
You're very welcome!
Hey, recently been playing for a month now in local live tournaments, the one thing I struggle with is cracking under pressure on final table & putting myself in bad situations, any suggestions?
Take an extra 5 seconds for final table decisions and work on your breathing to keep yourself calmer =)
Fold
Is additional software needed for your poker workbook, I want to get it, but some of the reviews on Amazon said additional software/tools are needed.
Nice video. Finally smart poker ideas. I am headed to redchippoker now. thanks
thanks man for your useful materials
Flopzilla question. Are the odds shown based on my 2 cards against the other 50 cards (pre-flop) or is there any consideration regarding the rest of the players on the table potentially, and probably, holding some of my outs?
Would play any ace and surprise get out kicked or any two suited cards which leads to so many problema besides getting beat by higher flushes but generally my opponent had two over a as well I was an ATM for so long and there was three of that would get dinner comped every night the other two were tight rocks that took pity on me after a couple years and showed me the light and voila what a difference could
Tendlers quote is actually a bit off. It should be something like "you cant 100% control what other people do" - you can influence them though... Manipulation is a thing.
I downloaded Zynga poker game and when I bluff they always call so I always lose...
Great advice.
I think cash game is where the real skill is,but you need a big bankroll.Tournies a lot more luck but if you run well you can win big.I watch top players and they are all in a lot.
When I started I wish I could truly grasp the extents of variance.
Totally fair
Do you think is viable still today to become a professional poker player?
When it comes to the math, you’re best off taking the time to simply excel your way to the results. Two ways to learn…do the simple process is 101 if you want to be better than the next player
Here's what I've learned in modern Poker education. Just like some books are not helpful, that's also true for YT poker "advice."
Indeed. What did you think about the advice in this video?
@@ThePokerBank
Who is the target audience?
If it's for beginners you really need to talk slower ,cut down on the terminologies and talk more generally
Shalom brother. Thank you
Shalom ach - you're welcome!
🤓 big thx for the content 🙏
You're very welcome Wiktor!
Good work keep it up thx
Thanks again 👍🇳🇿
its hard for me to understand how bottom pair vs top pair (hole cards) still wins 20% of the time. Whats even weirder is how this is basically 100% consistent for any two pairs. like i get that you can maybe hit a 4 card flush 2% of the time. but u only have 2 outs for the set, any board pairing doesn’t help you at all as the lower pair, so the only things i can think of are 4 card straights and sets / quads. Do you really have a 20% chance to hit a 2 out once with 5 cards?
Same think with KK getting outpaired 20% of the time _by the flop_ just seems crazy to me that u hit a 3 outer out of 52 cards 20% of the time with 3 chances.
I know it’s all right but statistics can be really unintuitive! I guess when im playing it feels like the chances of me hitting my outs are higher than 20% though 😂 so i guess deep down im an optimist
Deep down u need to read more books or enjoy being a fish
Great vid ty
Cheers Daniel!
when you said players are looking to connect with the board with their whole cards . I want to know how I can play at a deeper thinking level to not be 3bet to death.
Think about their ranges and where they are likely to melt...
Ur videos are really educational man
Cheers Z!
I love how to sell these vids like poker is a science or math. I suck at poker and the people I play with don’t give a F about these things. They just want to gamble and have a good time and that makes it impossible to win. Lol try beating 3-4 all in players every other hand. However, you’ve good content and it’s well thought out and delivered. So liked and subscribed.
If you want to consistently win at poker, find a game you can beat and shear those sheep as much as you can. If you play against really gamble-y people then you have to tighten up or have a bankroll large enough to handle the swings. If you think No Limit Hold Em is bad due to the swings, try Pot Limit Omaha.
Stick with James, he won't steer you wrong, and as you learn remember this "If you are an excellent player, people are going to draw out on you a lot more than you outdraw on them, because they have a worse hand a lot more than you do. The ONLY way to outdraw someone is to get all your money in with a bad hand"- adapted quote from Bobby Baldwin
I appreciate the like & sub, thank you! That said, there is still math against those types of players and in those types of spots - the swings can just get a bit massive =)
Don’t play drunk, unless you’re playing against me 😅
lol
James I just became a professional player recently I have a point A-Z strategy all written down very basic mathematics x amount of questions pre-flop X amount of questions post-flop I used to watch your videos years ago I also watch a lot of other videos one thing I notice is no one actually tells you their strategy / thought process they just tell you a little bits and pieces here and there just like your book just making money off of one little piece of poker I'm also going to make my book from A to z I'm not trying to sell people pieces here and there capitalize but never given the full strategy taking advantage of people at the tables and off the tables is what you're doing
that's going to be one big book.
@@ekw555 obviously you're not a professional you are you a winning player how many questions you think somebody's asking their self when they're at the table winning players you think they're going through a whole book of questions lol
Poker strategy is too complex to simplify it down to a single book. It's not a matter of "taking advantage" of anyone, but an actual biproduct of complexity and focused teaching/learning. But by all means, please prove me wrong...
@@erickhanes7517 let me get this straight - you're going to write a BOOK ?
so far you've written two nearly indecipherable comments.
but, I will play along.
1) in your first post you complained that existing books "just tell little bits and pieces" and that your book would be your complete A-Z strategy.
so, I opined that the book would have to be large to completely explain a strategy from A-Z and not just be bits and pieces.
if that is incorrect, then your strategy, despite covering EVERYTHING must be breathtakingly simple.
I look forward to reading it. Assuming it is less garbled than your posts.
2) I think how poker study works is once you learn parts of it, it becomes part of your "unconscious competence" and you no longer need to "ask the question" at all.
For instance when you are dealt 72o UTG+1 and UTG opens (for any amount) - are you asking any questions here?
no. you know it's a fold.
I always tell people the first thing they should learn is how to pay attention without looking like you're paying attention.
So true.
I wish I knew just how much checking OOP I am suppose to be doing. Ex thinking AKo was a pure flop cbet on all textures, this just isn't the case.
givme moretips ty
Nicely said Glen!
@@ThePokerBank Is it in Live Casino cash game even a point long run call re raises ? Before Flop ?
yes
Best thing I ever learned: if your friends dip, listen for an angry spit lol
Just a theory. If all these ppl trained the population who plays at level 1 to play at a level 3, but they are playing at level 5. Then they automatically made thousands of more ppl to beat. It’s almost like training ppl to be robots. Just a theory
That's certainly a theory. Not a good one, but a theory none the less.
@@ThePokerBank I kinda figured you'd say something like that. I used GTO to guess it
22 all in
I call?
Tell us live cash game best of you learnings
wat?
Nice, i liked the video but please speak a bit louder, thanks :)
Sounds like you're just promoting your book.
36 is not old. LOL!
I wish i new to avoid this scam!
Please stop the music in these videos people. Very distracting.
1
Game theory is just that someones ideal of a theory. You either find reasons to agree and follow it or reasons to follow your own game theory which if your askin questions you have no theory. Make mistakes n try but ill give u a piece of advice game theory is fine till u play online. Online rng defy any theory and you will be on the loosing end till u understand that.
No.
People who are 36 and call themselves old...:-)
nhwpgg
Engagement.
Achievement unlocked!
Lol. You claim this is for beginners and then proceeded to spit 13 minutes of jargon.
Too much blah, blah... Sorry!
Dude, you make a video to show 90% your face and talking like a waterfall ... Please bring some visuals and examples ... It's very hard to follow what you'r saying ... at least for me.
gto/solver...useless piece of toy. cannot apply them in actual hand. Or, just go and memorize all possible combinations and %?? lol
So useless that every pro uses them just to make up the illusion that they study?
@@silentbovo1 yeah.
Been playing since I was 8
Bb
If you can't control opponents actions then clearly bluffing is bullshit because those noobs will ultimately accept the raise and reraise it or go all in and worst case is online games help opponents more than you
What are you even saying?
Hes saying hes tired of online bs like cheaters.
@thepokerbank is flopzilla pro considered a "solver"? Or is it some other program?
I'm trying to get back into poker. There wasnt all this GTO / solver stuff around when I was playing more regularly.